Is that crack a problem? Read your concrete and site before you call.
Concrete, walls, and drainage give warning before they fail, and on North Texas clay the warnings follow patterns. The symptoms below sort what needs a same-day call from what needs a scheduled fix from what is just concrete being concrete.
Driveway or slab crack wider than 1/4 inch, or offset in height
UrgentLikely cause: Soil movement or base washout under the slab, past what reinforcement can hold together
Schedule an assessment this week. Measure and date the crack; widening or vertical offset means the ground under it is moving.
Slab heaving upward at the center or edges after a wet season
UrgentLikely cause: Expansive Blackland clay swelling beneath a slab without enough base buffer
Book an assessment and check where roof and surface water lands; the fix usually pairs drainage correction with the concrete repair.
Water pooling against the foundation or garage slab after rain
UrgentLikely cause: Grading has settled or was never right, sending water toward the structure instead of away
Get the grading corrected before the wet season. Standing water against clay is how slab and foundation problems start.
Retaining wall leaning, bulging, or showing new cracks
EmergencyLikely cause: Water pressure behind the wall: saturated backfill with failed or missing drainage
Call promptly. A leaning wall is a failure in progress, and each wet cycle moves it further; keep vehicles and children away from the fall zone.
Washout or deep rutting where the driveway meets the road
UrgentLikely cause: Undersized or blocked culvert, or an approach built without drainage
Schedule culvert and approach work before the next big storm cuts the entrance off entirely.
Doors sticking plus stair-step cracks in brick
UrgentLikely cause: Foundation movement on expansive clay racking the frame
Get a structural assessment with an engineer in the loop; foundation movement on clay is diagnosable and fixable, and earlier is cheaper.
Gate dragging or fence posts leaning after wet weather
Schedule serviceLikely cause: Post footings working loose in wet-dry clay cycles, or an undersized gate post
Book a repair visit. Re-setting posts in concrete at proper depth ends the annual sag cycle.
Metal building slab cracking at the anchor bolts or door openings
UrgentLikely cause: Slab loads concentrating where the structure meets concrete, sometimes from a slab thinner than the building assumed
Have the slab and anchor layout assessed against the building's drawings before racking or door operation gets worse.
Hairline surface crazing on older concrete that has not changed
Schedule serviceLikely cause: Normal surface shrinkage from the original cure, not structural movement
Monitor with a dated photo once a season. If it never widens or offsets, it is cosmetic; sealing is optional, not urgent.
Sudden slab drop, sinkhole, or a wall section giving way
EmergencyLikely cause: Active washout or collapse: water has removed the support and the failure is running
Call now and keep people and vehicles off the area. Active failures do not schedule themselves politely.
Before you call
What to check yourself
- 1
Mark and date every crack
Photograph each crack with something for scale, mark the ends in pencil with the date, and measure the widest point. A crack that has not moved in six weeks is a very different problem from one that has, and the dated record is what turns a guess into a diagnosis.
- 2
Walk the property during a hard rain
Ten minutes in a storm teaches more than a month of dry weather: watch where water actually flows, where it pools, whether it moves toward or away from slabs and foundations, and what the culvert at the road is doing. Note anything standing against concrete.
- 3
Check walls and posts with a level
Hold a level against retaining walls, gate posts, and fence corners. A retaining wall out of plumb is telling you about the pressure behind it; a gate post out of plumb explains the dragging gate better than the hinges do.
- 4
Look at the ground against every slab edge
Walk the perimeter of the driveway, shop slab, and foundation. Soil should slope away from concrete, not toward it, and there should be no gap opening under slab edges. Erosion channels, exposed slab base, or soil pulling away from a foundation in drought are all worth a photo and a call.
When to call us
Leaning retaining walls, active washouts, and anything that dropped or collapsed suddenly are same-day calls, because those failures are in progress and each storm advances them. Widening cracks, heaving slabs, pooling water, sticking doors with stair-step cracks, and culvert washouts belong on this week's schedule, before the next wet cycle moves them from repairable to replaceable. Hairline crazing that never changes, seasonal gate sag, and cosmetic surface wear can wait for a convenient visit. The assessment itself is free, so the honest threshold is low: if you are photographing something and wondering, that is the moment to send the photo.
If you are experiencing any of these, call now:
- Retaining wall leaning, bulging, or showing new cracks
- Sudden slab drop, sinkhole, or a wall section giving way
Ready to get started in Sherman?
Concrete driveways and slabs, site preparation, metal buildings, welding, and fencing across the US 75 corridor from McKinney to Durant since 2016, built by insured local contractors. Mon-Sat 8am-7pm CT.